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For sure, I agree. There's not much cause for bundling a dynamic library with your app. But you still need dynamic linking for the system.

Of course C++ is really terrible at this. Its binary interface is very fragile: you can't add variables or virtual methods without breaking clients, and of course different STLs cannot interoperate. So for the case of C++ specifically, ABI compatibility is lipstick on a pig. Still, the gcc guys deserve props for their abundance of caution, and it does pay dividends for other tools (e.g. gdb) that have to understand the ABI.




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